Stressful Morning {Cake Needed}

Hello! I don't know about you, but I am definitely glad it's nearly the weekend!! This morning has been a little stressful for me!

I had a doctors appointment this morning as I have been having issues with my joints. I have flat feet and for the last month or so my feet have been hurting all the time - I go to bed at night with my feet throbbing just from a normal day's activities - and in the last week I have developed sciatica as well (which I haven't had since I was pregnant with Toby). So I booked an appointment with my doctor, and for some reason I had got it into my head that he was going to blame my weight/weigh me/discuss my diet etc so I was stressing out a bit. I'd forgotten that my doctor has a slightly abrupt way of dealing with things, so all he actually did was ask me to take my shoes off so he could see my feet, and then he immediately told me I should go see a podiatrist to get insoles fitted. Apparently the waiting time for an NHS appointment is 8 months (!!) so he recommended I book a private appointment instead, which I have done for next Friday.

After that I thought it would be a good idea to go to Waitrose for a little shopping. I've mentioned before that I'm not the most confident driver. I'm actually ok at driving but it is parking that I have issues with. Waitrose was really busy this morning and all "my" usual parking spaces (ie the ones I can get into easily) were full so I decided to try to park in one of the parent & child spaces. I had Toby with me and thought that the extra space might make it easier. Wrong. I somehow ended up right in the middle of two spaces, and after over 10 minutes and multiple attempts at reversing to try to correct myself, I gave up and drove front in to an awkward space. Shopping done I then tried to leave the car park. It was actually easier to leave than to get in - I only had to reverse 3 or 4 times - but I had at least 5 people, plus a dog who wasn't on a lead, all watching me. Urgh. That did not make it any easier especially as at one point the dog lurched towards the back of my car whilst I was (very slowly) reversing. Stress!!!

When I got home I quickly unloaded the shopping and then treated myself to coffee and cake...it was definitely needed!!

Mmmm, I've been wanting a cinnamon roll for ages, and after the stress of this morning I decided to treat myself to one in Waitrose. Plus, because of the aforementioned panic about being quizzed about my eating habits, I'd had a really light breakfast this morning so I was starving by this point!

So good. This helped relieve some of the tension in my shoulders, although I think that is more due to the fact that - in Liam's words - I drive like a little old lady hunched over the steering wheel - than due to any minor stress I've had this morning. I do realise that my "stress" is really insignificant compared to most peoples!!

Anyway, I'm trying to convince myself that the Waitrose trip was worth negotiating the car park for. I need to keep up my driving practise so it was worth it in that sense, and I also bought some tasty foods alongside the normal shopping.

Some interesting juices. When I used to make my own juices, I loved the ginger and carrot combination, and if the smoothie is as pink as I'm expecting it to be then Izzy will love it!

When I was younger, I used to easily get through a litre of juice every single day. I hardly ever buy it anymore, but still enjoy it as an occasional treat.

I also bought some Raw Health apple & cinnamon rolls. I've always liked the sound of these, but I've never been able to justify the price. Reduced though, I couldn't resist!

The box is slightly battered and they are use by the end of April...but I'm sure I'll have no problem with that!!

I also bought a wrap for an easy lunch. An expensive way of making lunch but again, nice for an occasional treat. I am normally better at avoiding the expensive pre-packaged products when I go to Waitrose, but I was still feeling a bit shaken up from the parking issues, so bought some extra bits to calm my nerves! Haha, that sounds pathetic even to me, but it's how I felt at the time!!

I ate this just before writing this post, and it was really tasty. The lentil mix was spicy but not too spicy, and it went really well with the spinach. Definitely one of the nicer pre-packaged sandwiches I've had in a while.

It's become a bit of a tradition for us to have pizza on Fridays, and luckily I remembered about it just as we were getting to checkouts. I always just write "something for dinner" on my list, but I inevitably then decide to get the rest of the shopping before making a decision, and then usually forget to go back. But today I remembered - two caramelised onion and feta pizzas (our absolute favourite - we always used to force ourselves to choose a second, different, flavour to try, but they were never as good so now we just get two of these) with some salad...

I'm sure I'll be glad that I don't have to do anything more than stick these in the oven when dinnertime rolls round tonight!


What little things stress you out? And how do you get over it?? Driving/parking is definitely the big one for me. I am getting better, but each time I get in the car I get a really bad headache just at the thought of parking when I get to my destination. The driving itself isn't too bad (although I'd prefer it if I were the only car on the roads!!) but I have rubbish spatial awareness so parking is always an issue. I've started driving Izzy to her swimming lessons every week, and by that time of day the car park is pretty empty so I don't have too much difficulty. On the way out of Waitrose this morning, it was mainly all the people standing watching me that stressed me out, although I don't have that excuse for when I parked in the first place...I don't know what went wrong there - no matter how many times I reversed, went forward, reversed again etc I could not get the car to be in one space rather than in the middle of two spaces!! Urgh, my heart is racing just thinking about it all again so I think I will finish writing now. Hopefully one day driving will be something that comes as naturally to me as it does to Liam, although I'm not convinced I'll ever stop feeling stressed about it!!

The story of the chocolate peanut butter cups...

I saw a couple of recipes for nut butter cups last week. So on Tuesday I decided to make some of my own...

Dark chocolate + peanut butter + icing sugar = delicious...

But very addictive... I made six originally, but only four made it to the plate, and after demolishing another one in the name of the photos, I decided I better share the last three with the children... They were definitely very happy to see them!

And after waiting (not so) patiently for me to take a few photos...

They dug straight in!

As well as being delicious, homemade peanut butter cups are also rather messy...

But luckily Liam was waiting on the sidelines with lots of wet wipes - he hates mess even more than he hates the combo of chocolate and peanut butter (!!)

Toby only managed to eat about half a peanut butter cup before the mess got too much for him - he is the child who can't bear to get sand on his feet at the beach, so melted chocolate all over his hands and face was unbearable! Izzy loved them though and finished off Toby's leftovers, and we were glad Toby stopped when he did when he started making gagging noises!! He was fine, but the I think the dark chocolate was a bit too rich for him - lots of water and tongue sticking out and he was all better!

Well, I think that's enough cutesy photos for one day week! Normal service will resume when I next post!!

Have you ever made peanut butter cups? Do you prefer bought ones or homemade? We don't have a lot of choice where I live - I am so jealous of my friends near London (or indeed those of you in America) who have easy access to Reese's peanut butter cups in the shops, but here I have to make do with making them myself! I always put too much chocolate in the bottom of the cases to start with, so then it is too thick underneath the peanut butter mixture, but not enough to fully cover them on top. I must remember this for next time I make them! I think I'll also try them with milk chocolate next time - slightly more child-friendly I imagine.

WIAW - Keeping It Green

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! Jenn has declared March green month...and you know how I like a theme...




This post is based on Monday's food - where the focus was definitely green!

First, breakfast - after the school run and going round to a friend for several cups of tea - this was half a banana, lots of spinach, frozen (fresh) pineapple, milk and some Rachel's ginger yoghurt:

Toby liked the look of this too. The boy won't eat green pasta, but he loves green smoothies!

Because breakfast was quite late, I kept it light for lunch. A whole bunch of asparagus with some blue cheese...

I loved this, the blue cheese had a really strong flavour and went all melty to cover the asparagus. Asparagus is one of my favourite veggies - the only supermarket that sells it locally is Waitrose so it always feels like a treat when I have some in the fridge. I think this combination would also be nice with some quinoa if you wanted a heavier lunch - I love quinoa with everything though, definitely one of my favourite carbs! Ooooh, or I used to have sweet potatoes with asparagus and cheese. I haven't had a sweet potato in ages, must change that soon!

Anyway, moving on...! Mid-afternoon I got a bit peckish, so I decided to "green up" one of my favourite snacks - strawberries with peanut flour sauce - with the addition of a green apple:

Just as good as always, with added crunch from the apple.

Toby decided not to nap on Monday so he was tired and grumpy earlier than usual. And poor Liam was so busy at work that he didn't get time to eat lunch until 3.30pm! Those two factors combined...I decided to cook dinner earlier than usual for me and the children (I was hungry too!) and then Liam ate the leftovers when he got hungry...which wasn't until about 9pm! Whenever Liam's not eating with us, my thoughts immediately go to broccoli (as Liam doesn't like it) so I decided to serve the planned paneer and pea curry on top of broccoli instead of rice - lots of green!!

The children each had a slice of bread with their curry - they thought it was great fun to mop the sauce up with that instead of rice! I decided to save my extra carbs for later on - the one thing that wasn't green...

Chocolate vs veggies - I love them both to be honest - I definitely feel best when both play a part in my daily diet!

This was one of the chocolate bars I bought on Friday, thanks to Maria's recommendation. This chocolate was lovely. At first I wasn't entirely sure about the texture of the poppy seeds, but I soon began to enjoy it, and I loved the sweet lemon-white chocolate flavour. The perfect thing to satisfy my sweet tooth and end the day happy! :-)

What is your favourite green vegetable? Vegetables or chocolate or both? I love asparagus and broccoli especially, but also courgette, pak choy, mangetout, spinach and the simple pea. Plus probably lots more that I've forgotten!! I think I can eat more vegetables before I get sick of them than I can chocolate - I could never demolish a big plate of chocolate in the way that I do veg. But a small amount of chocolate each day definitely keeps me happy. I usually love dark chocolate but this white chocolate was really tasty too.

Toby's First Time At Creche

Hello! We've had a busy morning over here - I'm exhausted now!

I set my alarm for half an hour earlier than usual this morning so that I'd have plenty of time to get ready and eat breakfast before the school run. An unpictured skimmed latte plus a bowl of granola, yoghurt and strawberries:

This bowl looks a lot smaller than it was - there was more granola & yoghurt hidden under the strawberries!

After we took Izzy to school, Toby and I picked up my sister, Sarah, and drove to a sports centre about half an hour away from us. Me driving in itself was a big deal as I don't drive very often and don't have a lot of confidence. Sarah parked for me when we got to the sports centre as the car park was really busy, but apart from that the drive went fine. More important than that though...when we got there Toby went for his first ever childcare session!!

The gym/swimming pool in the town I live in don't have a creche which is a shame, but this sports centre is also included in my gym membership and for only £1.20 for a 2 hour session, Toby can be looked after while I exercise. Brilliant! As soon as we arrived at the creche, Toby ran straight in and immediately started playing, so when he still hadn't looked my way once in the 10 minutes I spent filling in forms and chatting to the staff, I made the decision to leave without saying goodbye (sob!) so as not to upset him. I was definitely way more emotional about our "first proper separation" than he was!!!!

Happy that he was being well looked after and that they would put a call out for me if there were any problems, Sarah and I headed to the gym. I did 20 minutes on the cross trainer and then spent about 20 minutes on the different weight machines before finishing off with some ab exercises and stretching. We then headed over to the swimming pool and swam 30 lengths (half breast stroke, half front crawl) in just under 25 minutes. We had to cut our swim slightly short as it was time to go and pick up this little guy...

Trying to smile whilst actually munching on a piece of bread - he's not actually worried as he looks!

I was so pleased/relieved to hear that he'd had a great time. Lots of playing, no crying, apparently he'd asked "where's mama?" a few times but had been happy with the response that I was swimming. Asking where people are is his current "thing" anyway - I spend most of that day telling him where Izzy & Liam are! The creche seemed really nice - there were three other little boys there while Toby was there, and two staff members. My sister is off work again next week (before starting a new job the following week) so we are going to go over again one day next week and then after that I will have to drive over on my own (eek!). It is great for Toby to have a chance to spend some time away from me, and also nice for me to be able to exercise during the day - win win!

By the time I got home I was absolutely starving! I quickly gave Toby some lunch and put him down for a nap, and then I made myself a bagel with mashed (very ripe) avocado and Munchy seeds:

This was amazing! I inhaled the first half because I was so hungry, and then slowed down to appreciate the second half. Such a great combination. I love it when an avocado is perfectly ripe, and the fluffy bagel and savoury seeds went perfectly with it! Yum.

You'd think that a 530 calorie lunch would satisfy me, but I was still feeling a little hungry. I had some water and waited half an hour, and then had "dessert" of Total 0% Greek yoghurt mixed with cocoa powder and agave nectar:

Please excuse the messy mixed-in bowl!

I love this for a quick sweet treat - almost like eating a light version of chocolate frosting! I have such a sweet tooth that my mind often doesn't think a meal is complete until I've eaten something sweet, so things like this are a good solution.

And now there is only half an hour left until we need to go pick Izzy up from school. Toby is still fast asleep so I'm going to have to wake him in a bit - all that playing tired him out! Today has gone really quickly, but in a good way - it's been fun! :)

Those of you have children, can you remember when you first took them to childcare? Did you feel emotional?? Izzy went to nursery from when she was 6 weeks old, and then a childminder from when she was 2, before going to pre-school aged 3.5. I remember feeling a bit anxious/tearful each time, but I soon realised that she was happy and let her get on with it. She's always been used to being around lots of different people, so is very confident in that respect. Toby, on the other hand, hardly ever leaves my side! He was 2 back in January and I think the only time we've left him is for one night for our birthday last May, and then for our honeymoon last July. Both times were with family though so I was a bit worried how he was going to react being left with people he didn't know today. He did great though, and I now feeling much happier taking him there again. Phew! :)

Do you prefer exercising in the daytime or the evening? Which do you do most often? I definitely prefer exercising in the daytime, but unfortunately this isn't usually possible. Our local gym and swimming pool don't open until 7am, and Liam leaves for work at 7.15am so that's no good. He then doesn't get home until 6.30pm so if I want to exercise it has to be in the cold, dark (!) evenings. I'm hoping it will be easier in the summer, but for now exercising once or twice a week - either at the weekends or by putting Toby in creche once a week - is a good compromise. Then I'll see if I can muster up extra motivation for an evening workout or two!

Sleepy Shopping

I always used to say that I hate shopping...and whilst that is still pretty much true for clothes shopping, I have definitely learnt to love shopping when food and/or kitchen appliances are involved!

On Friday, I went into town with Toby after dropping Izzy at school. The children had decided that 5.30am was an acceptable wake-up time that morning so I was pretty tired. Tired shopping = spending lots of money it seems!

The first shop I went to was Holland & Barrett. On Maria's recommendation, I wanted to buy some Seed & Bean chocolate...

I ended up buying 4 bars, but in my defence (!) one bar was to give to someone else, and they were buy one, get one half price. I can't wait to try these!

Next shop was Boots - from interesting chocolate to boring essentials - wet wipes, tissues and the free magazine:

This was one of the cheaper, but more useful shops. I used the wet wipes and tissues straight away, and read the magazine in the bath that afternoon while Toby had his nap. Bliss :)

The first two shops were things I'd planned to buy, but after this my tiredness kicked in. I went into one of our local cook shops to see if they sold doughnut pans. They don't, but I came out with this instead...

I do already own a stick blender as my Grandma gave me her old one. But it is a bit old and I can't get it clean enough to want to use it, so I have been making soup in my blender jug instead. This will make soup-making a lot easier, and was only £7.99 so justifiable to my tired brain!

Next was Julian Graves for some planned peanuts (to make peanut butter) and some caramel nuts reduced to 10p:

Is there are real difference between paleskin and redskin peanuts?? There were blanched peanuts which were, understandably, more expensive but then there were paleskin peanuts that were half way between the price of the blanched ones and these ones. The shop assistant didn't think there was any difference in taste so I went with the cheapest option. I quite like having flecks of peanut skin in the nut butter anwyay.

Next shop, and by now I'd definitely got into the habit of buying one thing from each shop, was a local health food shop. I was very restrained though, just buying a jar of honey that I like.

They've stopped selling Booja Booja chocolates again which helped with my self-control - they sold them at Christmas and will apparently sell them again for Easter, but apart from that they say there is no demand for them. Shame.

At this point Toby and I went to Costa for a coffee break, well for me anyway.

This was a gingerbread latte, my favourite. I didn't buy myself a cake as I'd only had breakfast an hour or so before. Toby got a pack of the wafer biscuits they sell by the til though - he's come to expect those whenever we go into Costa!!

Revived by the coffee, we started to head home. With a few more shops on the way. I randomly went into The Factory Shop with nothing in mind, and came out with a little tractor toy for Toby and some "pink milk" straws for Izzy:

Our final stop was Tesco - pizza for dinner as I knew I wouldn't have the energy to cook, and a random drink that was by the checkouts. I hadn't realised it was a lucozade drink - I was drawn in by the words "lightly energising" but it was actually pretty nice. Cranberry flavour, not too sweet, and only lightly fizzy which was good - I'm not a huge fan of fizzy drinks.

It's worrying how easy I found it to spend money as a way of comfort...no more aimless wandering around the shops when exhausted for me!!


Do you like shopping? Do you find that you buy more when you are tired or are you good at just sticking to a list? Like I said, I don't like clothes shopping. The only shop that I came out of empty-handed on Friday was a clothes shop. I can never seem to find anything I like, and I never have the enthusiasm to spend much time looking. Plus the idea of trying things on with Toby around...nope!

Food shopping though...that I enjoy! I love having time to browse the shops to find new things that I haven't tried before.

I'm normally pretty good at going into town for the things I need - buying the things on my list and coming straight back home. Friday's combination of me being tired and Toby being really well behaved (unlike his normal self that constantly tries to climb out of the pushchair!) led to an easy, and unnecessarily expensive, shopping trip!!

Exercise, Baking and Eating

Hello! Long time no speak! I've only posted once (for WIAW) since this time last week, whoops. I've been a bit busier than usual plus feeling really tired in the evenings so I haven't been on my laptop much. I've just uploaded the camera for the first time since Monday, so this might be a bit of a random post!

Exercise: I went swimming this morning! :-) First time in ages. I don't know why I don't go more often as I really enjoy it. My Mum usually does a long run on Sundays but because the weather was so awful she opted for swimming instead and gave me a lift. I did 40 lengths in about 35 minutes, which is about the standard I was up to when I last swam so not bad.

I've got a gym/swim trip booked for Tuesday morning too. My sister and I are going to drive over to the gym about half an hour away, as it has a creche. So Toby is booked in for a 2 hour session at the creche and we are going to go to the gym and swimming. I'm a bit nervous as it will be the first time Toby has ever been to formal childcare (and really, except when we went on honeymoon, he is with me pretty much 24/7) but I can always pick him up early if he doesn't like it. I think/hope it will be a good experience for both of us, and if he likes it then it will be great as it'll be a good reason to both keep practising my driving, and exercise during the daytime when I'm less tired. Win win, and hopefully good for him to have some social time away from me as well!

Baking: I've baked 4 cakes this week, none of which were for us, sad times! I made Chocolate Frosted Traybake for my Grandma on Tuesday, then another Chocolate Frosted Traybake plus a Lemon Drizzle Cake (2 layer with buttercream in the style of Toby's birthday cake) for my sister to take in for her last day at work on Friday, and finally a Mississippi Mud Pie for my Mum to serve at her dinner party last night. Phew! They were all well-received, and I enjoyed scraping the pans/bowls of icing! ;-)

Traybake for my Grandma

Leftover piece that Liam and I shared :)

Lemon Drizzle Cakes

Finished Lemon Drizzle Cake

Big chunk of leftover Mud Pie that Mum gave back to us this morning...looking forward to having some of this later!! :)

Eating: Lots of eating has been happening around here, as always, but I actually managed to lose 1.5lbs this week which is nice - I'd been eating way too much again and had got up to my highest non-pregnant/immediately post-birth weight so it is time to bring it back down! I've still been enjoying some treats, but trying to balance them out with more fruit and veg and proper meals. I've also developed a love of tea over my previously beloved coffee! I've been starting each morning with a mug of hot water with lemon (leftover from my baking!) and then a couple of mugs of tea with breakfast. It lasts longer than drinking one mug of coffee, and seems more of an occasion for some reason! Here are some random photos of some of my eats from the last few days...

Strawberries with peanut flour sauce - love this!

Nice treat on Thursday morning - I'd made a pot of coffee to have with my Grandma on Wednesday, and had forgotten I'd put the leftovers in the fridge, mmm!

Lunch on Thursday - random, but just what I fancied. Egg-fried quinoa with avocado and agave nectar.

Most of my breakfasts this week have been some kind of fruit + granola + yoghurt combo

Hot water + lemon to start the day. I've also been having this with honey in the evenings as I've had a sore throat.

Big plate of veg moment - roasted courgettes with hard boiled eggs and sweetcorn + Philadelphia (we were all out of mayo, boo)

Friday night pizza - looks a bit sad but was really tasty!

Rhubarb and strawberry crumble, made by my Mum's friend. Tasted a lot nicer than it looks here!

Poached eggs with quinoa and spinach.

Oooey gooey baked Camembert for dinner last night :)

Phew, that was a lot of food! I'll leave what I've eaten today for another time! There have, of course, been other eating moments than the ones above - little handfuls of dried fruit, chocolate etc that I didn't bother to photograph, but I am trying to keep track of what I'm eating as much as possible. I do find that if I can stop the mindless eating, my weight is a bit easier to control. The meals themselves are (usually!) ok, it's the constant snacking in between that causes my weight issues.

One non-food photo for this post - this was Izzy on Thursday for World Book Day:

The children were asked to dress up as a character from one of their favourite books, and every single girl in Izzy's class went as a Disney Princess of some kind! Izzy immediately said she wanted to go as Sleeping Beauty. She also has a Snow White costume (or indeed I could have tried to make her something) but the pink in this dress made her decision I think! It seems this is one occasion where the parents of girls have it a lot easier! There were lots of pirates amongst the boys, plus some with designs on their t-shirts instead of full outfits.

So, what have I missed? What have you been up to this week? I've still been reading blogs on my phone, but I tend not to comment much when I'm not on my laptop. The children are currently having naps so I'm planning to spend a little time catching up with my Google Reader...here's hoping they don't wake up too soon!! ;-)